New turbine at full power at MeyGen

The first Atlantis AR1500 tidal turbine to be deployed at the MeyGen site in the Pentland Firth has generated electricity fed to the National Grid.

The turbine was successfully installed in less than an hour, helped by the use of a ‘wet mate’ connection management system, which allows for rapid deployment and retrieval of the device.

This follows the announcement in November 2016 that power had been delivered to the grid from the first of the three Andritz Hydro Hammerfest tidal stream turbines to be deployed at the site.

The AR1500 is the fourth turbine to be installed offshore and connected to the grid at a control building at Ness of Quoys in Caithness.

Marine Power Group Atlantis Resources, which is leading the project, said it was delighted to confirm that the 1.5 megawatt (MW) turbine has “already successfully exported power to the grid and has operated at full power”.

Test programmes at the Orkney-based European Marine Energy Centre played an important role in the evolution of the AR1500 and Andritz Hydro Hammerfest devices.

The AR1500 system was developed by the turbine and engineering services division within Atlantis and its nacelle was designed under contract by Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Atlantis described the AR1500 as “one of the most technologically advanced tidal turbines ever deployed on a commercial scale marine power project”.

Construction of the next 6MW phase of the MeyGen projects due to commence later this year.